Green Adventures: March 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015

Sorry for the photo overload... and less writing.... I think the pictures are so much fun & speak volumes about what it is like here.

We are hanging in there - we've made it through our 2-3 week mark that always brings confused feelings & mixed emotions. Around that time both Anna & Lauren cried about missing home & Levi talked about home & his bedroom & familiar things a lot. Around that time, I had my usual break-down (but no tears this year!) and Joel sort of crumbled under the weight of cultural & language barriers at the hospital. But we kept walking & are back on top of the valley instead if walking through the trench.

I have really been enjoying "homeschooling" the kids. I thrive in routine (and so do they.... despite what our life usually looks like - ha ha!) Our typical schedule is something like this: the kids get up & around in the morning, play around our house or read while I get showered & ready for the day... breakfast (usually toast & maybe eggs or fruit or homemade granola if I've made any)... make beds & then go out on our porch to begin school about 8:30am. Lauren is usually scooting around on a scooter or playing with her buddy, Deste.

We have "recess" at 10:30 and let the kids on the mission play together. Have a snack & finish up school by lunch. Amazing what can be accomplished in a short amount of time with focus!

Joel & Tall Lauren & Rachel come home sometime during lunchtime & we eat together, then everyone goes back to work. Our afternoons are filled with playing, running to the dukas for random things like beans or flour or sugar, cooking, napping, games, jumping on the trampoline, swinging, etc.... We will be heading to pediatrics in the afternoons, soon, I hope.

The pediatric building is brand new - it is much, MUCH larger & nicer than the previous one. There are 4 wards inside, an ICU, 2 private rooms, flush toilets & even showers! They even have a little "dining room" with a TV and some plastic chairs for the kids.... we'll see if the TV ever turns on. We had a great weekend 2 weeks ago painting the building inside with fun colors & decorations! There isn't anything like this here at Kibogora & it is so friendly & welcoming & just for kids! I love it! Move-the-kids-in-day was last Monday & it went pretty smoothly. Some things that you wouldn't anticipate in the US..... the need to "teach" the moms how to use a flush toilet. And although the rooms are large & there are plenty of beds, all of the moms & children flocked together & felt better stuffed close to each other. They seem to prefer sleeping in beds together instead of spreading out.

There is an English program (conversational) that has begun & the people here at the mission have been recruited as teachers. Rachel & I have the beginner's class. We now teach Tuesday evenings. Last week was our first class & we had no idea what level our students would be. Turns out they are at the very basic, beginner level. We went over the alphabet & how to pronounce each letter. We went over numbers 1-10 and then some basic greetings. It will be really fun - I'm looking forward to tomorrow. They are adults & older than me. They are eager, but shy & try hard.

Levi is getting used to feeling very comfortable in Africa. He & Brandon & Zach are always off doing whatever.... jumping on the trampoline, building tree forts, or walking to the dukas nearby to purchase candy or see what new trinket has been put on the shelves. They sometimes walk all the way to Tyazo without an adult. I'm still a bit nervous about this.... but trying to let go a bit. It's not even a mile & we usually see many people we know along the way.... and everyone in the community knows exactly where the muzungu (white) kids live. Joel is comfortable if Levi is with 15 year old Zach. Ok. Relax.

Joel enjoys working at the hospital - although it's tough on so many levels. He loves teaching so much & has had a lot of fun teaching Ronald. Ronald is a Rwandan doc who is currently in a PAACS residency program in Ethiopia. (Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons). He is doing an "away rotation" back here in his home country & working under Joel. Awesome benefits for Joel are that Ronald "rounds"on the patients early, so Joel can show up at 7am instead of much earlier. And Ronald is a great help/assistant in the operating room, not to mention he is obviously fluent in the language (Kinyarwanda), as well as English, so he is a much-needed translator for Joel.

Last week was hard. There were some late nights - like after 9pm and 11:30pm.... and then on Friday night, Joel was called in around 12:30am. He was still not home after our household was up & around for the day on Saturday.... so we ended up taking a "girl's trip" to Kemembe (about an hour away) to get some groceries and get off of our 1/2 mild radius for a day. We got home at 5:30pm and Joel had gotten home just before us! It was a sad day. He can fill in the medical details, but there was a motorcycle/car accident the night before & Joel & his staff worked on the patient for 11 hours... and he ended up dying. The immediately following patient was a little 7 year old girl who.... also died. It was emotional. One of Joel's Rwandan co-workers was crying. They had a hard day.
We rest in God's providence. We praise God that He has numbered our days. And if it's your day to live, nobody can kill you. If it's your day to die, nobody can save you. This is what Joel shared with the staff who operated with him.

Our family is good friends with another in the community (both parents work at the hospital). Emmanuel has worked with Joel over the years we have been coming & his wife MaryAnn is a sweet friend. They have 3 kids - two boys & a little girl. Last week we had a day of rain that wouldn't stop. It was beautiful & comforting & awesome.... but the next day Joel received a text from Emmanuel that said, "My house fell down. I will not be at work today." So we went to visit later that evening & sure enough, the greater part of their home had fallen in. The neighbors were there with shovels & were digging them out - saving some of the mud bricks to rebuild with. We offered them a place to stay with us at the mission - but they refused saying that someone would come to what's left of their empty house and rob them. The children have been sleeping at a neighbor's house. Money is already tight, super tight, despite them both working in respected positions at the hospital. We will help them finance rebuilding. When is the last time someone who is at "doctor status" in your community had their house fall in due to rain? The world continues to be so shockingly unbalanced.

I continue to be so very, very thankful for Rachel & Lauren who live with us. It has been life-giving to have sweet friends - adults - who come home at reasonable hours & who get super excited for the weekend - because it truly is a weekend. (Joel sort of gets weekends - but he works a lot). Sometimes we stay up late & talk & eat the chocolate that my amazing friends back home sent with us (honestly, Joel usually joins in on these fun girly nights!) Sometimes we watch girly movies & just let the discomforts of the days evaporate. We cry. It's different here. It's nothing like nursing back home for them & every day has unique challenges. I enjoy cooking with them, or for them & being a constant at our house.... maybe it's more for me than them, but I like it. They are God-given gifts.

One of those nights when Joel operated into the night last week, he came home with a picture he'd taken on his phone of the ICU. There are 8 beds in the ICU. The beds were packed with people & the floor was covered with people. The lights were on. Family members, spouses, children, etc... the care-givers for each patient - were crowded in that room trying to sleep. There was a blanket laid out on the floor between two beds & 3 people were squished onto it. Imagine what has been on that floor.... or don't because it's gross. Imagine the creepy crawly things that come out at night..... I remembered that picture when I woke up at 5:30am one morning with something tickling my neck.... in my comfy cozy bed.... that has plenty of blankets & a pillow... I don't really know what it was because I just grabbed it & threw it in the dark.... probably a millipede.

Blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!
Paula

Sunday, March 29, 2015

March 29, 2015

Anna's birthday gift.... Bunny from the market. Her bunny is (was) Bella. They were 2 for 3000 Rwandan Franks... less than $5 total. So Daddy was a softy & said we could get two bunnies. Lauren was ecstatic!

Josiane visited us for a weekend - she had something at the university to go to... so she rode the ambulance that was headed back to Kibogora & spent the day with us.

Lauren & her little Violet.

The amazing cage that Zach & Regan & Levi & Brandon built for the bunnies..... too bad that 3 days later, bunnies escaped... or were "found" by some dogs.... RIP sweet bunnies.

Joel took a mini driver's lesson from Dr. Tim. His first "go" at it... yes, that might be Lauren's curly head in the passenger front seat. This is us driving to the market to find some bunnies.... that was quite an experience. Thankfully Josiane was with us to help find someone to "watch" our car while we were in the open air market... and to translate for us & shield us from the swarms of people excited to see the Abazungu (white/rich people)... we had about 25 bunnies forced in our faces when they realized what we were there for. We also purchased an umbrella on this trip as well as a pair of shoes for Josiane. (the options were a slew of shoes laying on a grass mat that were obviously used & probably GoodWill rejects). The market is about a 1/2 hour walk or a 5 minute drive.

Stephanie painting the sunshines on the pediatric ward!

It was such a fun day!

Tall Lauren, Josiane & Rachel.

Julie drawing on the mountains & flowers.

Fixing the ceiling that fell in... hopefully this is the last "oops!"

Joel, Josiane, Meridith, Tall Lauren, Julie

Tall Lauren being a nurse in the new pediatric building!

Nearly each morning before Joel goes to work....

"Daddy! Don't go! Stay with me!"

A quick lunch break before heading back to the hospital... Levi is becoming quite a little Chess player!

Her favorite tree. The tree by Julie's house.

Here are Lilly's babies... about 2-3 weeks old.

We can finally hold them... until they meow & Lilly comes &

carries them away in her mouth! So fun!

Pizza night!!!!!! Joel making sauce, Tall Lauren & Rachel chopping up green peppers, onions & pineapple, basil & garlic! mmmmmm! Our favorite!

Girl's Day!

This past Saturday, my girls & Lauren & Rachel took a drive to the nearest city (1.5 hours away). Innocent was our driver; he is our friend & is employed by the mission as a driver. We went to Kemembe to buy some groceries that we can't get in Kibogora (cheese, ketchup, oatmeal...). We also went out to lunch at a great restaurant/hotel! Emeraude. Here are some fun shots of our meals.... these were fancy... not our normal food, but so so so good!

Hot cocoa for the little girls

Rachel ordered an authentic Rwandan dish.... boiled bananas covered in peas, carrots, other unidentifiable veggies & peanuts. She convinced us that it was yummy. mmmmm!

I ordered a Hawaiian pizza to share with short Lauren, but let's be honest - I ate most of this by myself... it was delish!

Lauren ordered chicken... she had a bit of trouble finding the meat on it.... but we all loved the "chips" (french fries)

Lauren & Anna enjoyed samosas... small meat pies... what kind of meat? Who knows... but yummy.

And a special surprise!

The waitress brought out ice cream for the girls! Hooray!!!

We ate outside on a balcony

This is a (pretty poor) photo of the bridge that connects Rwanda to Congo. Those houses you can see are actually in Congo. Kemembe is a border town.

Lauren & Rachel grocery shopping at the really great supermarket where we could find all the things we can't find in Kibogora... well most of the things.... This is actually the size of the store.... you are seeing the whole shop. They fit a lot of stuff in there!

Driving back to Kibogora, we stopped to see this beautiful view ... and the little children who live down the hill came running! "Abazungu!!!!!" Tall Lauren passed out Dum Dum suckers to them! Lots of smiles.

Rwanda's drive through! On the way home, we slowed down to turn a corner & people shoved their goods in through our windows, hoping we might make purchases. Innocent loves the roasted corn, so he bought us some.... it was really chewy & tasted like popcorn.... not bad! I bought some oranges (that are green here).